While President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson to talk about a deal to end the war in Ukraine, life outside the base gates in Anchorage rolled on, though with a bit of a twist.
Ken and Jason Remsen, a father and son from New Jersey, watched a jet approach from a viewpoint on the Coastal Trail. Jason pointed out the red Russian lettering on the plane as its engines roared overhead.
“I believe it is Putin's plane about to touch down. We were tracking it on the flight radar app,” he said.
That was a first: No Russian president had visited Alaska before Friday.
Ken Baitsholtz spent the morning birdwatching not far away, looking for sandhill cranes, greater yellowlegs and other marsh birds. He said he was skeptical when he heard the meeting was taking place in Anchorage.
“I think everybody's thrilled for the attention, you know,” he said. “I mean, if they're not as cynical as I am, then they're like, ‘Oh, good, Anchorage is on the map, and they're reporting us in the international news, and we're so important.’”
Elsewhere, parents dropped off their teens for the first day of school, people headed to work and tourists milled about downtown. Some people hadn’t even heard the meeting was happening. Others had plenty to say about the presidential visit.
“It's an interesting day, considering we got a dictator coming to the state,” said Ben Adler, a Homer resident working on a surveying job near the courthouse. “But yeah, business as usual, nothing really changes.”
Dedevi Satavi was one of those dropping off her son, an 8th grader, for his first day of school at Hanshew Middle School in South Anchorage.
“My first question, why is it Alaska?” she said of the Trump-Putin summit.
Satavi said she’d heard rumors that Trump might use Alaska as a bargaining chip, that the state would end up part of Russia again. But she said she didn’t really think that was possible, because Putin doesn’t have that kind of power.
“Putin is one,” she said, laughing. “And we are many.”
Juanita Stucker didn’t even know Trump or Putin were in Alaska. She was washing her clothes at a laundromat in Mountain View, because the washer and dryer in her building are broken. She was surprised to learn that Trump doesn’t plan to spend any time in the state after the meeting. He should see more of the state, she said, like Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow.
“I would bring him to Barrow to show him where I lived in Barrow, and how our people live and how important it is to us,” Stucker said. “And I'm sure everybody would greet him and let him know how important our culture is.”
In Government Hill, a group of about 20 pro-Ukraine protesters gathered at the base entrance . James Garrett Hermansen was one of them.
“It made my skin crawl, because the devil is in my home, and I feel that evil shouldn't feel safe in Alaska,” Hermansen said.
He was holding a guitar covered in stickers and handwritten messages like “This machine saves lives.”
Hermansen is a big Woody Guthrie fan. He said he was at the protest because if Guthrie wasn't here, someone needed to be. He was playing his guitar earlier, but he said he had to take a break.
“I just got to take a second and cool off,” Hermansen said, “because I’m a little annoyed and upset that oligarchs and fascists and technocrats are sleeping safe and sound and warm in my home tonight.”
Altagracia Guillen, on the other hand, said everyone needed to chill out a little and have faith that things would be OK. The Dominican immigrant moved to Anchorage 35 years ago and said she wanted people to have more patience with Trump.
“No, para mí está bien. Bienvenido,” Guillen said. “Como este país me recibió, también nos podemos recibir a ello. Bienvenido. [For me, it’s all good - I welcome him. Just like this country welcomed me, we can welcome him.]”
Guillen’s sister was visiting from the Dominican Republic, and they were shopping at Mountain View’s Red Apple Market for limes, ginger and plantains. But the market was out of plantains, so they’d have to drive across town. She shrugged. No problem.
Meanwhile, at the University of Alaska Anchorage, another summit was taking place: the Arctic Visions Psychedelic Medicine Conference.
Retired Col. Beth Law, from the Mat-Su, was one of this year’s speakers. She was in the military for 34 years and voted for Trump three times. When it came to Friday’s meeting, she thought Trump was the guy for the job. She wasn’t so sure about Putin.
“What I want to say is, Putin needs to pull his head out of his ass,” Law said.
She said she thinks psychedelics could help with that.
“I don't think Trump needs them,” Law said. “I definitely think Putin needs them. He's mean, and psychedelics make you nice.”
